10 Most Important Las Vegas Raiders Players In 2023: No. 10 Divine Deablo

Jeff Spiegel
Jeff Spiegel
4 Min Read
Oct 10, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo (5) tackles Kansas City Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon (1) in the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff JB-USA TODAY Sports

As the Las Vegas Raiders head into the NFL offseason, we’re starting a new series of articles that will release over the next few weeks looking at the 10 most important players moving forward, counting them down from 10 to one. The criteria are simple: You’ve got to be important and you’ve got to be under contract for next season. Oh, and you can’t be a quarterback who is technically both important and under contract, but who is almost assuredly going to be in a different uniform next season.

In total, there are 45 players who are under contract next season (for now) — a group that does not include guys like Josh Jacobs, Jarrett Stidham, Denzel Perryman and Rock Ya-Sin among others. Of the 45 who are, which 10 will play the biggest role in determining whether Josh McDaniels’ second year in charge will go far better than the first?

That’s the question I’m aiming to explore, so, starting with No. 10…

Divine Deablo, Raiders
Sep 18, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Divine Deablo (5) walks off the field after the Raiders were defeated by the Arizona Cardinals 29-23 in overtime at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

No. 10: Divine Deablo

With all due respect to Deablo, it’s an indictment of the roster that he makes a top-ten list for a team who should have playoff aspirations given the talent you’ll find at the top of this list. Like, Deablo is a fine player — but at this point, he’s still an unknown two seasons after being taken in the third round of the draft.

And he’s No. 10?

Yep.

2022 Stats: 8 games, 74 tackles, 0 FF, 0 INT, 0 SACKS

2023 Outlook

Deablo entered last season as a starter and was the team’s leading tackler through eight games. Unfortunately, a forearm injury cost him the final nine weeks and valuable developmental time.

As for next season, Deablo is the only Week 1 starting linebacker set to return, and what Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham thinks about him will probably inform a lot of their approach to the position group this offseason. Then again, with as many holes as exist on this roster, they may not have the luxury of being picky at linebacker.

In my opinion, however, I think I’ve seen enough in a year-and-a-half to say that the Raiders might have a competent starter. His athleticism makes me believe the Raiders might have a three-down linebacker on their hands — and with another year in Graham’s complicated system, I’m hopeful we’ll see more and more of those flash plays.

The pessimistic view, though, would be that Deablo’s numbers were merely the product of the dearth of talent in front and behind him. Which, to be fair, might be true! But screw pessimism — the Raiders are 0-0! — I’ll place my bet on another step forward and the third-year linebacker making a positive impact next season.

Information

Jeff Spiegel was raised in California but currently resides in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he worked in sports before entering journalism full time — first as a Sports Reporter and then as the Associate Editor of a small newspaper. Online, he has been writing about both the Raiders and Dodgers since 2012 — having written for DodgersNation.com and SBNation.com prior to joining both DodgerBlue.com and RaidersNewswire.com. He left full-time journalism in 2012 to become a pastor. Jeff can be found on Twitter at @JeffSpiegel. Favorite Raider This one is an easy one for me: Charles Woodson. When the Raiders drafted him, there was nothing to dislike about the guy — he was exciting and he was freaking good. Unfortunately, of course, he left after eight seasons — but when he returned in 2013 it was one of the better Raider moments of my lifetime. At that point, I didn't care how washed he was (and he wasn't!) — I just liked having him back in the silver and black. Obviously Tim Brown is another guy that was easy to love, but Woodson is the all-timer for me. As far as current, I'm still a believer in Derek Carr and think he's going to figure this all out. Favorite Raider Moment I think I'll go with the two weeks leading up to the 2001 Super Bowl. As a kid, I remember getting the newspaper every morning to read what they were talking about, clipping out the articles to keep for later. It was obviously far more exciting than the Super Bowl itself, but I'll never forget those moments of hope leading up to the Super Bowl. I referenced it above, but second to that was probably the return of Charles Woodson in 2013 — I just loved the guy, and never dreamed he'd actually come back.